So here I am days before the end of the year to make this retrospective of the site during the year 2025. And how am I going to go about doing this? Well, this is where the writing journal will come in handy.

I am going to go through each month and talk about some highlights about what I was writing and posting. Also, I will be checking the blog on the site. I am not sure how much I will relink to the site because there have been a lot of highlight posts throughout the year.

But I did so many pics for this year’s blog, I am just going to reuse pics as well for the LOLz!

Here. We. GO!

—January—

The big posts of this month were two attempts at articles. One was about all the anime I absorbed after recovering from my burns (see blogs in November and December of 2024 for more details.) The second was a passionate attempt to share my favorite stories by the horror author HP Lovecraft. The biggest thing about these articles was how long they became. I had to separate these in parts.

37 Anime I Binged in One Month

Part 1

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/37-anime-i-binged-in-one-month-part-1

Part 2

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/37-anime-i-binged-in-one-month-part-2

Part 3

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/37-anime-i-binged-in-one-month-part-3

Finale

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/37-anime-i-binged-in-one-month-finale

So the impression I get from looking back at all of this anime is . . . I really like Rom-Coms, Isekais, and unhinged comedies. I certainly was not going to watch any horror or intense violent anime while recovering from an injury. I was interested in being cheered up and most of the anime succeeded in this. But by the time I reached number 34, it was clear I needed a break from anime. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

While I wrote the Lovecraft article in January, I scheduled the parts for the months of February and March. So . . .

—February—

Love of the Craft (Top 10 Recommended HP Lovecraft Stories) was the highlight article for the month. Well, half of the articles were posted. There are 8 parts to this series. And looking back, I dedicated myself to doing this review series to test and see how well I can critique a favorite author of mine.

And one of the things I do is a play by play of how the stories play out. Not sure if that is a proper way to review anything. Or if I’m just a fan gushing over classic horror stories that are almost a century old.

Part 1

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-1

Part 2

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-2

Part 3

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-3

Part 4

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-4

My favorite quote from all of this HPL reviewing comes at the beginning of part 4:

“I feel like a used car salesman and that cool Model T I’m trying to pawn off is on fire.”

Yeah, HPL is a brilliant author but he had a dark side that seeped through his work.

There was also a Superhero Movie reviewed that I plum forgot I did. Seriously, I even enjoyed Captain America: Brave New World and I got caught up talking about HPL. Lolz!

Buck's Thoughts on Captain America Brave New World

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/buck-s-thoughts-on-captain-america-brave-new-world

—March—

Next highlight is this

Part 5

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-5

Part 6

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-6

Part 7

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-7

Part 8

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/love-of-the-craft-top-10-recommended-hp-lovecraft-stories-part-8

Each part of “Love of the Craft” focused on one of my fav HPL novellas. And I listened to each audiobook in one sitting. Which in hindsight is not a wise decision to do. It was good to be a play by play review but if ever you do a review like that, take breaks.

—April—

The highlights for this month are the conclusion of the blog stories “Your Dreadfulness Lines With Mine” and “Zombie Xapper.” I still like these stories but I did them in a rush in November and December 2024. Although, they are in need of editing and maybe a little streamlining. I wrote them with no outline and during a time where I could only stand. I had a good laugh looking back at a few of these parts.

Writing these made me realize how much of a time investment writing can be. And the joy of finishing something and sharing a work is a feeling like nothing. I do hope someday people will stumble on these stories and find some joy in them.

And I still like my Author’s Afterthoughts that follow, well, after the stories conclude. And I do not hold anything back. I rip into myself real good. All in good fun.

Here are the first chapters for the two stories, so you can start from the beginning.

“Your Dreadfulness Lines With Mine” Chapter 1

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/your-dreadfulness-lines-with-mine-chapter-1

“Zombie Xapper” Chapter 1

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/zombie-xapper-chapter-1

—May—

The highlight for this month was another attempt at doing a movie review. I like superhero movies. And there is no shortage of superhero movies being released. And the Thunderbolts* is an odd addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I enjoyed it and had some thoughts.

Buck’s Thoughts* on Thunderbolts**

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/buck-s-thoughts-on-thunderbolts

And as for my writing journal, I worked on a project initiated as DotNO, which I believe is the second addition to a series I am writing. I do so many projects and try to finish them. Writing is just so much fun that if not for the writing journal, who knows how many projects I would lose track.

But besides the movie review and blog updates, that is it for May. And by May, the post on the site have slowed down. Did I get bored? Did I just lose interest? Not really sure, but I did post an update for each week.

—June—

So this is when my momentum for any writing died down. I finished DotNO and had no other projects in the pipeline. So, with summer came something I always fell victim to . . . GAMING! Yes, for most of my life, I enjoyed a good video game. And I did give up gaming to have time to write, because gaming is a chronophage.

But this summer I gave into gaming once again. It all started in May and for some reason, I downloaded a game I used to play a lot called Loop Hero. And I downloaded on my phone and played so much that my eyes hurt. So, with my savings, I got a tablet. And I could play games without my eyes hurting, yeah!

And besides my weekly blog updates, no writing was happening. I had plenty of podcasts and anime in the background as I overplayed Loop Hero. Then I tried Fallout Shelter and had some fun with that for a couple weeks. Then I downloaded Stardew Valley and found a way to get my old saved characters on my tablet. And I played Stardew Valley for a couple of weeks.

And that is how I lost another hot humid summer to gaming.

—July—

In this month, I did a couple of movie reviews and really went into sorting out my comic collection. I had not been collecting comics for a long time. My interest waned since COVID hit back in 2020. I collected a few new releases for a time but I lost interest completely once my local comic book shop closed in October 2023.

So, this year, I made the decision to short out my collection because it was taking up so much room. And I got tired of my collection collecting dust.

I took this sorting of the comics so seriously that I even made entries in my writing journal. And if my entries are correct, I sorted out “the keeps” and “the sells” well into August. And thanks to my sudden determination to be rid of half of my collection, I eventually sold the collection in September.

So, even though much writing did not happen in the summer, I did something very productive. Some that I had been building to do for years. And now the comics are at a more manageable number (to me, anyway). There are a lot of screenshots of comics in the title card for a few update articles.

As for the movies, “Superman (2025)” and “Fantastic Four: First Steps”, were both very fun. And the Superman review just so happens to be the 100th blog post. Which I did not make a huge deal over. But I had fun with these movies and go into more detail in the articles.

Superman (2025)

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/buck-s-thoughts-on-superman-2025

Fantastic Four: First Steps

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/buck-s-thoughts-on-fantastic-four-first-steps

—August—

Yeah, close to no writing and full on sorting out the comics. One thing I forgot to mention in this article is that I had well over 5000+ comics in my collection. I do have a spreadsheet that archived what I had but since COVID, I lost track of archiving any new additions. I believe I have kept half of what I had but until I redo my archive from the beginning, I will not know for sure.

But I feel good to this day about selling half of my collection. A lot of what I had in the collection was overprinted 90s slock that still is not worth the money it was printed on. Which is ironic since the speculation boom of the 90s made people believe a lot of collectable things would be worth something decades later. But the only people who find that stuff valuable are those that feel the nostalgia in the stuff.

The 90s were a hell of a decade to be alive and growing up. It still feels like a dream after twenty-five years now. And I really do not think the comic book industry will have that level of a boom again. I am not even sure what the future for the comic industry is. With the uprise of digital and the downfall of the comic book shop and print in general, the whole industry will be changing in ways I cannot imagine.

And it does not help that this year Diamond Publishing had declared bankruptcy. Diamond had been the sole printing company for the comic book industry since the 90s. Now, other printing companies are taking up the reins for the big two like Marvel and DC and all the indies that are still hanging out. It only took a couple decades but Diamond’s monopoly had fallen apart.

We live in interesting times, no matter what your hobby is and what interests you have. Things constantly are changing. And because of the internet, things change at hyperspeed.

—September—

Another month were barely no writing happened. Only four update blogs and most of it was about how I finally parted with half of my comic collection. But come 9/25 I started a new writing project I called WotGT. And I somehow kept this momentum going until 11/28. It is the most writing I have done all year, even compared to the earlier months of January and February.

The momentum had died down since then but I am so glad I managed to hold on to it as long as I could. I finished WotGT and another project called PotDD. Writing even this article is fun. But it takes some motivation to get my burnt end typing.

—October—

This was an important month for the site. The one year anniversary, October 16!

https://www.buckbloombooks.com/post/website-1-year-anniversary

I did a whole article celebrating which I believe was also that week’s blog update. And it marked the final update blog that I would do weekly for the site. I had been repeating myself a lot at this point during the update blogs. I had not been doing much writing for the site and I lead a chill life, at least I try to.

So to talk about myself and what I am doing each week got a little too BLARG! I do not think of myself as an interesting person. I like to think I can come up with interesting stories though. But, to talk about myself and not writing or stories or anything else; and do that weekly? No, monthly is fine with me.

This also marked the end of the whole PS running gag. It originally was a gag but it quickly just became a habit. And so far, I do not believe I have done them again. Not even sure why I did them to begin with.

Actually, maybe the PS thing was a way to add jokes to cheer me up while I was recovering. Making most of the stuff for the site was after that fateful Thanksgiving that I became the turkey. Speaking of Thanksgiving . . . .

—November—

This month, I worked on WotGT, finished that project and started PotDD. And I knew my momentum would not last, so I invested what time I could before my motivation dwindled.

And this was the first month to only have one update blog, as opposed to having four. More is not always better and I am not sure how interesting four rushed blogs would be as opposed to one with some more thought put into it.

Though, in hindsight, if not for my weekly blog updates, my writing journal would have longer spaces of emptiness, especially during the summer. I will be sticking to once a month with the updates but maybe think of something to do in the meantime throughout the month for the site.

—December—

So in this month, I have been proofreading previous projects, off and on. But again, mostly I have been doing anime and podcasts and other shenanigans that are not writing. But I will front this thought out there. Maybe it will be something, and maybe it will not.

I download Kindle and Audible on my table. And now that ebooks and audiobooks are more readily available to me, maybe . . . just maybe, I could review what I read or listen to and post more content on the site? Hmmm? And at least I can use that tablet for something more than gaming, which I have NOT done in the past few months.

Beyond that, I work retail and the Christmas holiday is always insane. Even after Christmas, the lingering ghost is still a shadow over me. Ugh! But once New Years is done, things should calm down afterward. At least, for a month. And maybe, just MAYBE, I can get some reading or audiobook listening in and do some actual content for the site.

---Blog of the Year 2025---

Blog Update? 2025 / 6 / 11

This blog from June has to be the blog of the year because of how much fun it was. This was my love letter to Loop Hero and my rant to vent out my love for gaming. Gaming is the most dangerous thing for me to engage with. Because if I am gaming, then I am not writing.

---In Conclusion---

This has been a fun rant and walk down memory lane. I remember writing most of these articles and updates and I was sent back through the year. 2025 honestly has been a decent year for me, chill with some bursts of writing here and there.

Besides wanting to engage with more written and audio works for the coming year, I have no New Year Resolution. Just to keep the writing journal going, keep to my 9k steps, and try to be chill as much as possible. Yeah, 2026 is going to be another interesting year. But as always, I am going to try and roll with the interesting . . . if that makes any sense? 😜

Good Luck and Better Luck for the Year 2026!

—BUCK

PS: And now I can add this article to the list in my writing journal. 2025 is almost over and I will have to add another spreadsheet for the new year, 2026! Huzzah! (Written 12/2